The family of Stephen Lawrence today revealed they have received threats from racist thugs and fear for their safety.

Scotland Yard was investigating today after Doreen Lawrence said she and her other son Stuart had recently received hate mail and worried they could become the victims of a racist attack.

The mother of the murdered teenager - killed in a racist attack 20 years ago - said a threat was made just days ago in a letter directed at Mr Lawrence.

The letter was sent to the charity set up in her son’s name, The Stephen Lawrence Trust.

The 60-year-old said she believes the threats were made against him because of a complaint he recently lodged with the Metropolitan Police over being stopped and searched.

She said: “There are times we get letters sent to the trust about me and more recently one has come through about him because he made a stand.

“I had to say to him yesterday to be very careful when he’s out, and try not to be out too late.

“I try not to be out too late when I’m travelling home. The fear is always there.”

Mr Lawrence, a 35-year-old teacher from Peckham, said he had been stopped and searched more than 25 times due to the colour of his skin and his patience finally snapped following an incident in November when a police officer told him he was “naturally suspicious” of him.

Mrs Lawrence said attitudes of race had not changed enough since her son was murdered 20 years ago.

“There are still people out there are very angry, just the name Stephen brings on their anger,” she said in an interview with the BBC. “There has now been a threat and I do take it seriously. I don’t assume I will be safe when I’m out.”

In 1999, the Met was accused of being “institutionally racist” by the judicial inquiry into Stephen’s murder six years earlier.

The 18-year-old A-level student was killed in a racist attack by a group of white youths as he waited at a bus stop in Eltham, south-east London.

Two of that gang, Gary Dobson and David Norris, were jailed for life last January.

Previously, Mr Lawrence said: “I am being targeted because of the colour of my skin, I don’t think it’s because I am Stephen’s brother.

“Whenever I have been stopped, I have never subsequently been charged with anything, and nothing has ever been found to be wrong with my car.

“I have never, ever, done anything wrong. I have never been in trouble with the law.”

A day after it emerged Mr Lawrence was due to complain about being stopped and searched, a racist threat was made against him in a letter sent to the Stephen Lawrence Trust in Deptford.

Scotland Yard said : “Officers are investigating an allegation of racially aggravated communication reported to officers on Wednesday 6th January. The correspondence was received at an address in Deptford.”